Holiday Home Tour
Welcome to our first Holiday Home Tour at Bella Terra! This house was made for holiday decorations. Having a red front door already sets the Chrismas mood!
At the front entry, my husband put up the lighted trees that are situated on both side of the front door. This year’s wreath is a simple one and the plaid ribbon is used throughout the house. I added magnolia leaves and different greens for texture. Plaid ribbon from Costco.
I kept the entry classic with garland up the staircase, beveled fleur-de-lis mirrors on the steps, and I changed out the painting near the petticoat table with a Christmas themed one.
The “teddy bear” tree used to be upstairs outside the children’s bedrooms, however, I thought it would be fun to put it in the corner of the entry as it is scaled appropriately.
In the dining room, the deep mantle over the fireplace is the perfect place for our snow globe collection. Every year, each child gets a snow globe and an ornament until they turn 21. So if you do the math, my son is 21, my daughter is 19 and my youngest is 15. My husband keeps saying, “Enough with the snow globes!!!”. I only put out 20 of them this year but I love how magical they look with the lights under the snow.
The living room mantle is deep like the dining room, and I added garland, white lights, large balls and plaid ribbon. Here’s a “before the tree” picture.
The tree is a real evergreen and my back is still aching from putting on the numerous strings of lights. But the fresh tree smells so good!
When the children were 2 years old, we had a local artist, Virginia Cook, capture their childhood moments in an oil painting. Beneath the paintings, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care…..
For those of you who have been in my kitchen, it never looks this clean!!! Thanks to the magic of photography, all the piles are cropped out! Typically I decorate all the windows, but due to lack of time and energy, the decorations are limited to the pastry rack and around the stove.
Years ago, I decided to hang holiday art and take our regular paintings down during the holidays. Simple posters were framed and then each painted with brushstrokes of gel matte medium (found in an artist supply store) to look like original paintings. Here’s one with Santa cooking in the kitchen!
Between the dining room and kitchen, is the breakfast room. Nutcrackers we’ve collected from our travels are displayed here.
The most lived-in room at Bella Terra is the family room. Since our pets freely roam this room, I decorate with non-breakable holiday pillows and wreaths. For more on this room, see a previous post.
The back porch, with the outdoor heaters, is the place we entertain during the winter months. A vintage tablecloth adds color to the dining area.
The guest cottage gets a simple lighted wreath, as the cottage colors are already festive.
My husband hangs the wreath on the well tower each year. It, too, is lighted and has a festive glow at night. My dog, Cooper, who is huge, looks so diminutive in this picture…
I’m still learning so much about taking photos. Many thanks to professional photographer, Adam Peter , for taking most of the pictures above.
Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoyed a bit of the holiday here at Bella Terra!
I’m off to find holiday cards and at least one decent photo of our brood! Happy Monday!
